All Review articles – Page 131
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ReviewSomis: Violin Sonatas op.1
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Lively performances of music by a little-known but key 18th-century composerMusicians: Kreeta-Maria Kentala (violin) Lauri Pulakka (cello) Mitzi Meyerson (harpsichord)Composer: SomisAs a pupil of Corelli and teacher of Pugnani and some of the 18th century’s leading French violinist–composers, Giovanni Battista Somis (1686–1763) ...
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ReviewSchnittke: String Trio Weinberg: String Trio. Kurtág: Signs, Games and Messages (excerpts) Penderecki: String Trio
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Stylish performances that lack interpretative fireMusicians: Ensemble EpomeoComposer: Schnittke, Kurtág, PendereckiFor its second disc – generously filled, and rewardingly programmed – string trio Ensemble Epomeo focuses on music composed in Eastern Europe and Russia in the late 20th century, playing with a ...
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ReviewHaydn: String Quartets op.20
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Modern-instrument Haydn performed with period sensitivitiesMusicians: Doric QuartetComposer: HaydnListening to the Doric Quartet’s excellent op.20 set, one is struck by Haydn’s inventiveness. This is indeed visceral and subversive music, and this admirable group brings out all these tendencies beautifully. As I suggested ...
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ReviewChamber Music from the Dresden Court. Handel: Trio Sonatas in G minor HWV393 & E major HWV394. Fux: Trio Sonata in A major K340. Fasch: Trio Sonata in D major. Telemann: Trio Sonata in E flat major fr
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: A surfeit of ornamentation mars an otherwise worthwhile collectionMusicians: Ensemble DiderotComposer: Handel, Fux, Fasch, Telemann, TumaIn this resonant, appropriately balanced recording, period-instrument Ensemble Diderot performs a selection of trio sonatas by composers who had associations with the Dresden court. Three world premiere ...
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ReviewFranck: Violin Sonata in A major. Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major op.18
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Largely successful accounts of two Romantic sonatasMusicians: Arabella Steinbacher (violin) Robert Kulek (piano)Composer: Franck, StraussFew works are so crucially dependent on those magical places between and behind the notes of a written score being fully explored as Franck’s chromatically superheated yet at ...
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ReviewColours of the Heart. Debussy: Violin Sonata. Delius: Violin Sonata no.3. Ravel: Violin Sonata. Grieg: Songs (arr. Sauret)
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Sensitive accounts of music full of sensual allureMusicians: Midori Komachi (violin) Simon Callaghan (piano)Composer: Debussy, Delius, Ravel, GriegDebussy’s Violin Sonata tantalisingly fuses stream-of-consciousness sensuality with structural and gestural Classical norms. Midori Komachi leans more towards the former, characterising the composer’s episodic asides ...
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ReviewCooke: Violin Sonata no.2, Viola Sonata, Cello Sonata no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Music from a largely forgotten contemporary of Tippett and RubbraMusicians: Susanne Stanzeleit (violin) Morgan Goff (viola) Raphael Wallfisch (cello) Raphael Terroni (piano)Composer: CookeYorkshire-born Arnold Cooke (1906–2005) studied for three years in Berlin with Paul Hindemith and wrote six symphonies as well as ...
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ReviewBoulez: Anthèmes I. Ysaÿe: Solo Sonatas nos.2 & 4. Sciarrino: 6 Capricci. Widmann: Etudes nos.1–3
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Violin wizardry in a recital that plays off works from different eras against each otherMusicians: Carolin Widmann (violin)Composer: Boulez, Ysaÿe, Sciarrino, Widmann Response to Carolin Widmann’s Ysaÿe is inevitably coloured by the modern works that surround it – maybe her own playing ...
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ReviewBach: Six Cello Suites BWV1007–12
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Refreshingly understated accounts of Bach’s suitesMusicians: Viola de Hoog (cello)Composer: BachVersatile Dutch cellist Viola de Hoog offers substantially introverted accounts of Bach’s suites. Some characteristics of her mentor, Anner Bylsma, shine through her stylish interpretations, but her fertile musical imagination and detailed, ...
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ReviewShostakovich: Violin Concertos nos.1 & 2
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Searching and haunting accounts of Shostakovich’s two concertosMusicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/John StorgŠrdsComposer: ShostakovichChristian Tetzlaff might have been born to play the Shostakovich concertos. His questing spirit, penetrating tonal inflections and clarity of vision are ideally suited to ...
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ReviewWalton: Cello Concerto, Passacaglia for cello solo. Hindemith: Cello Concerto (1940), Sonata for solo cello
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2015Description: A highly satisfying coupling of two composers’ music for celloMusicians: Christian Poltéra (cello) SÁo Paolo Symphony Orchestra/Frank ShipwayComposer: Walton, HindemithChristian Poltéra is at the top of his game in these works by two composers whose friendship lasted much of their ...
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ReviewJanácek: Violin Sonata, Dumka, Romance, Allegro. Suk: Four Pieces op.17. Dvorák: Romantic Pieces op.75, Nocturne op.40
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2015Description: A rewarding recital of highways and byways of Czech violin musicMusicians: Jennifer Pike (violin) Tom Poster (piano)Composer: Janácek, Suk, DvorákLaunching this coherent Czech collection, Jennifer Pike skilfully and imaginatively balances the Romantic and modernist elements in Janácek’s Violin Sonata, as ...
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ReviewViolino 1: Austrian Violin Music c.1680. Anonymous Austrian violin works
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: A highly successful endeavour to give life to the music of forgotten 17th-century composersMusicians: Veronika Skuplik (Baroque violin) Evangelina Mascardi (lute)Composer: AnonymousThis label’s aims, to offer young artists a platform and make accessible lesser-known early music repertoire, are amply fulfilled in this ...
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ReviewPolish Cello Music. Works by Lutoslawski, Bujarski, H. Jablonski, Tansman, Meyer, M. Jablonski, Hans & Penderecki
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: Vivid playing in works written for different numbers of cellosMusicians: Jan Kalinowski, Beata Urbanek-Kalinowska, Anna Armatys-Borrelli, Karolina Jaroszewska, Marcin MÄ…czyŠ„ski, Franciszek Pall, Michal MichaŠ‚ DÄ…bek, Monika Gernot, Marta Nagawiecka, Aleksandra Lelek (cello)Composer: Lutoslawski, Bujarski, H. Jablonski, TansmanIt’s hard to have too many ...
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ReviewSchubert: Violin Sonata in A major D574. Gershwin: Five pieces from Porgy and Bess (arr. Heifetz). Dinescu: Etude de nuages. Ravel: Violin Sonata
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: Performances that lack a sense of personal involvement from the young playersMusicians: Marie-Claudine Papadopoulos (violin) Dimitri Papadopoulos (piano)Composer: Schubert, Gershwin, Dinescu, RavelThe young French-born violinist Marie-Claudine Papadopoulos was awarded first prize in the German Association of Arts and Culture’s ‘Ton und Erklärung’ ...
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ReviewRöntgen: String Trios no.13 in A major, no.14 in C minor, no.15 in C sharp minor & no.16 in C sharp minor
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: Characterful playing of works in a late flowering of 19th-century styleMusicians: Offenburg String TrioComposer: RöntgenThe Offenburg String Trio plays these Röntgen trios with style and evident affection. And why not? This collection of 16 trios must be a treasure trove for all ...
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ReviewPanufnik: String Quartets nos.1—3. Lutoslawski: String Quartet
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: Two contrasting strands of 20th-century Polish musicMusicians: Tippett QuartetComposer: Panufnik, LutoslawskiA striking aspect of the iridescent sound world of Lutoslawski’s String Quartet, given the high degree of aleatoric freedom involved – within episodes, individual gestures are left deliberately uncoordinated – is how ...
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ReviewPaganini: 24 Caprices op.1
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: An effective attempt at ‘authentic’ Paganini let down by poor intonationMusicians: Roberto Noferini (violin)Composer: PaganiniI have reviewed some excellent recordings of Paganini’s op.1 in my time, but this is the first to come my way using gut strings and an early 19th-century ...
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ReviewKuhlau: Violin Sonatas vol.1: Sonatas in E flat major op.64, in F major op.79 no.1, in A minor op.79 no.2 & in C major op.79 no.3
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: Largely successful accounts of sonatas by the German—Danish composerMusicians: Duo Šstrand/SaloComposer: KuhlauPursuing their mission to disseminate Danish music, Christina Šstrand and Per Salo champion four sonatas by native German Friedrich Kuhlau, who took Danish citizenship in 1813. The works date from the ...
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ReviewMoór: Cello Concerto no.2 in C sharp minor, op.64, Concerto in D major for two cellos and orchestra op.691, Prelude in E major op.123
The Strad Issue: December 2014Description: Beautiful playing of neglected repertoireMusicians: Péter Szabó, Ildikó Szabó (cello), Miskolc Symphony Orchestra/Zsolt HamarComposer: MoórIn 1910 Pablo Casals made his Viennese debut playing the second cello concerto of his friend, the irascible Hungarian Emanuel Moór. Casals and Moór had met in 1905 ...
